Hikermor -- the wood burning stove I'm using these days is a Vargo Ti Hexagon. It folds more or less flat and weighs just over a quarter pound. I fully agree with your sentiments regarding use of wood fires in the very dry southwest, but it's not this dry everywhere.

I like other stoves too. Both the MSR PocketRocket and MicroRocket are great canister stoves, lightweight and very packable. Kerosene, White gas and multi-fuel stoves are also in my stash. Some are just there for the sentimental reasons, others because they are very good at what they do. They all work, some better than others.

All that said, wood can be a very good fuel and a good wood stove that packs away and is very lightweight can be a very useful option. I really like that these small stoves burn twigs and small pieces that are easy to find. The park where I walk the dog has lots of fuel just lying around that no one would miss if I cleaned it up a bit. YMMV